Peaceful Ignorance
by BananaLollypop
Summary: A year after the events of 'What's the Point', Skye still needs that little bit of comfort that only Ward can provide. *Obviously takes place in the What's the Point universe; reading that first would be strongly advised (not that I can force you :D)* R&R appreciated muchly - WARNING: SLIGHTLY OBVIOUS SPOILERS FOR 1X06: F.Z.Z.T


**AN:** Hello lovely readers of MAoS fanfiction! For those who read 'What's the Point?' (who are all awesome, by the way!), I apologise for taking forever to get this up; I've been debating with myself over the order in which I want to upload things adn I've decided that I couldn't wait any longer to get SOMETHING up, at least. So, at some point in the near future, I'm hoping to get a F.Z.Z.T re-do fic up so that the episode fits in with my 'What's the Point' universe :3

This one-shot (it genuinely IS a one-shot this time) takes place, as you will quickly find out, a year after the events of WtP? (- I'll be using that abbreviation forever now :3). If you haven't read that yet and you're reading this READ IT. READ IT NOW. OR THIS WILL BE CONTEXT-LESS AND THAT WOULD BE SAD. Well, I think that's everything.. Enjoy!

* * *

A year had passed, to the day, since Cameron abducted Skye. Skye had woken up that morning barely realising what was different about the day, and then ignoring it completely when she did realise. She was determined to keep the past in her past, and making any moves to acknowledge the day properly would go against that completely.

Ward was, as usual, already wide-awake as she stumbled from what was now their room (Coulson had landed the plane on a Monday ordering them all to go off and have some downtime, and when she and Ward returned three days later, the bunk had doubled in size and now included a double bed).

"Morning," he said with a small smile as she made herself coffee. This in itself surprised her; normally he knew not to even attempt speaking to her before she'd had some caffeine. Everyone knew that she was _terrible_ in the morning.

"Hey," she replied before downing half of her coffee and sighing contentedly.

Ward chuckled quietly, "What is it with you and coffee in the morning?"

"I need something to wake me up," she replied, "Especially with your late night training... 'sessions'." She finished smirking. Ward look offended.

"Most of those are initiated by _you_," he said defensively, though he was struggling to hide a smile, "And don't pretend you don't _love_ those sessions." Skye grinned, kissing him lightly. His face fell slightly when she pulled away.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"It's just... you know what day it is, don't you?" Ward asked carefully. Skye sighed.

"It's a normal day, Grant," she said, finishing her coffee and putting the cup in the sink, "I'm not planning on doing anything to make today seem any different to yesterday. Now, are we training or not?" she didn't give him a choice as she took her hand in his and pulled him down to the training area. Soon enough, the two were wrapped up in defence training, their conversation completely forgotten.

* * *

That night, Skye disappeared into her and Ward's room, saying she was going to watch a movie before going to sleep. Ward, not in the mood to just sit and watch a screen when Skye clearly wasn't going to make it more interesting for him, said he'd join her later, after he'd finished his book. She was fine with that, kissing him goodnight and settling down in her pyjamas with a warm blanket.

As the night progressed, the team said their goodnights one by one before also going to bed, eventually leaving Ward alone with his book on the couch.

It wasn't until just gone midnight that he became aware of anything that wasn't the events of 'The Great Gatsby' (he wasn't even sure who had given it to him or when he'd received it, but he was surprisingly enjoying the book). He heard a door quietly open, then someone approaching the lounge area, shuffling their feet and sniffling quietly.

Ward glanced up to see Skye standing on the other side of the table, dressed in pyjamas with fluffy slippers, wrapped in a blanket with tears pouring down her face. He sighed sympathetically, putting his book down and holding out his arms to her.

"Nightmare?" he asked as she rushed into them, flopping onto the couch and crying quietly into his shirt. He felt her nod against his chest as he rubbed her back comfortingly.

"It was horrible," she murmured after a while, "I was so desperate to keep this day normal. I didn't want it to be anything special. But as soon as I fell asleep, I just had this dream and I felt so helpless and-" she stopped herself as another wave of tears came to her eyes, each one falling down her cheek in quick succession to the last.

"Hey," he said, wiping a tear from her cheek, "It's okay. It didn't happen. Cameron is going to be in jail for a long time, and he's going to be locked up forever. His first stop after jail is a mental hospital. He can't come near you."

"It wasn't me I was worried for," Skye murmured, sounding even more downhearted than she had before.

The two fell silent, Ward pulling Skye's blanket closer around her, hugging her tightly as he did so. She sniffled against his shoulder having cried too much for any more tears to fall.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly, "You don't have to, but... it helps, you know."

"I know," she replied, sitting up again and wiping a hand across her face. She got up and walked to the kitchen, filling a glass with water before reconsidering and taking two beer bottles out of the fridge. Ward raised his eyebrows questioningly and she smirked, "Aren't heartfelt conversation best had with alcohol?" she asked, searching for a bottle opener. Ward picked one out of the drawer closest to him, opening the bottles and sitting opposite her at the breakfast bar.

"I'm not really the expert on heartfelt conversations," he replied, drinking from his bottle, "Then again, I'd never had a proper relationship before a year ago, and it's almost our one year anniversary." Skye smiled.

"I didn't think you'd be the one to count days," she teased, "But if it's any consolation, I've been counting too. Do you have anything special planned?" she was completely joking in asking him that; there wasn't much you could do when you were thousands of feet in the air.

"I might do," he replied vaguely, "I guess you'll just have to wait and find out the day after tomorrow..." Skye gaped slightly before pushing it aside; she had long since learnt that trying to get Ward to open up about a secret was like trying to crack open a walnut with a blunt spoon.

"So," he continued, "You were going to talk about your nightmare?" He knew, from experience, that if Skye initially wanted to talk about something that upset or scared her, she would most likely change her mind between forty and sixty seconds after. In the year that they had been together, he had often had to force information out of her, and had felt guilty doing so, but he knew that she would benefit from it (which, in his defence, she always did).

He also knew that if he just came out and asked her about it, she'd most likely answer.

"It..." Skye started but stopped again, sipping form her bottle, "Cameron was on the plane." She started, ending her sentence with such finality that Ward thought she was just going to stop there.

"And..." he prompted gently. Skye sighed shakily.

"I was reliving the incident last year when Jem... well, when we almost lost her. After everything she did when Cameron took me, I just felt so helpless that I couldn't help her and watching Fitz fall apart and then when you _jumped out of the plane_..."

"I said I was sorry!" Ward protested, "It worked out in the end. We were lucky. That's what we need to remember."

"Yeah, I _know_, _genius_," Skye rolled her eyes, "That wasn't the point. In my dream, Cameron was on the plane, and Jemma was standing at the edge of the ramp and he tied me to a chair and... He pushed her out of the plane and there was no one there to save her. No Fitz, no you... no one. She just fell and I was stuck in a chair watching her fall." Tears fell silently down her face as Skye looked away.

Ward reached across the table and took her hand in his, squeezing it lightly. It pained him to see her in such a state, especially over something that didn't happen. Though the majority of her nightmare would never happen, he knew exactly how close they'd all come to losing Simmons just two and a half months after they almost lost Skye.

Despite what everyone else seemed to think, Ward knew exactly how much Simmons had thought about her possible suicide; if he was going to guess, he'd say that she'd been considering it from the moment she found out she was infected. She'd always known that it had to be a last resort. But she'd also known that it was a very probable possibility if she wanted to protect the rest of the team.

"Simmons knew what she was doing," Ward said quietly, "She knew she had to keep us safe."

Skye nodded, "But did she think of how it'd effect all of us?" she asked, her voice matching the volume of his, "Fitz especially? You saw his reaction when she jumped... he was ready to dive straight after her. I just... I can't help but wonder: what if you hadn't caught her in time? Or what if the antiserum hadn't worked?"

"But none of that happened," Ward said, trying to comfort her, "We made it out. All of us, in one piece."

"That's not the point!" Skye snapped, "The point is that it could have gone differently! We could have lost her and it'd be just..."

"It'd be just like when we almost lost you." Ward interrupted her. Skye froze, her mouth still open to say something but no words coming out. "Skye, we all know that this job comes with major risks. You, Coulson and Simmons know that better than anyone does. You've all been in that place where you could have been gone forever. But you're not. You're all here and if you focus on the 'what ifs' so much that you forget that, then things will never get better. Cameron is gone and Simmons is safe. You're still here with us. You're not helpless and no one here is stupid. A... _bad dream_ isn't going to change that."

Skye shook her head, sighing quietly, her head down. "I just... it's so hard to put trust in people, you know? After everything... my life hasn't been particularly straightforward. The last year has just been ridiculously... _happy_. I guess I've just been waiting for something to go wrong. When Jemma jumped, I thought that was it. I was ready to say that I wanted off the plane. But then you brought her back and since then everything just gone so... _well_."

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face, "I'm being ridiculous," she muttered, "You're right. It was only a dream. Jemma's fine. I'm fine. Cameron's locked away," she finally looked up again, meeting his eyes with such sincerity that Ward was sure, for a moment, that he was looking at a different person, "We're alright, aren't we?" Ward squeezed her hand again, smiling comfortingly.

"We've always been alright," he replied, "I think Fitz and May actually have some kind of bet on how long it'll take us to fight." This made Skye giggle quietly, "That's what I like to hear," Ward said, smiling wider, "Are you going to come to bed?" he asked after a moment. Skye nodded.

"Just give me a minute," she told him, smiling slightly, "I need to get my head around everything." Ward kissed her over the table before leaving her alone to get ready for bed.

Skye sat at the breakfast bar as he left, sighing as she rubbed her hands over her face.

"Nightmare?" a voice said from in front of her. She moved her hands away from her face to see Coulson standing at the bottom of the stairs to his office. Skye smiled slightly.

"Yeah," she said, "A pretty bad one too."

"Did Ward help?" Coulson asked, walking over.

"He always does," Skye replied. Coulson smiled.

"I'm glad," he said, "So you're good?" Skye smiled back, nodding.

"I'm good," she stood up, her mind at rest as she realised that the only thing she needed to get her head around was the fact that Ward had helped put her mind at rest, and that, really, was all she needed, "'Night, Coulson."

"Goodnight, Skye."

When Ward returned to his and Skye's room from the bathroom, he round Skye curled up under the covers, fast asleep. He smiled as he climbed in next to her, kissing her forehead lightly. She curled into him, smiling slightly, relishing the feeling of his arms wrapped around her.

Neither of them wanted the embrace to end, and it was one that they both took with them into the depths of sleep.

Secretly, however, in the backs of their minds, they both wondered how long the peaceful ignorance of the situation could really last.

* * *

**And that rather mysterious ending will tie in rather nicely with the beginning of the WtP? sequel, *coming to a near you!* hopefully in the next few days. ****Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to have my ridiculous chapter-a-day uploading schedule this time, as I am a GCSE student with horrid subjects (yay! -.-). I'm not really sure how this one-shot went; I thought both Ward and Skye were OOC at times, which I suppose is unavoidable at times, but annoying nonetheless. I kind of rushed it a bit as well, but I hope that didn't show!**

** Remember that reviews are like stars - bright and sparkly! I appreciate them very much and would be forever grateful if you left one! Until the next time, my lovely readers: TTFN! :)**


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